NVIDIA first announced its 100-hour monthly playtime cap for GeForce Now back in late 2024. At the time, there were a few grumbles, but they soon died down and the internet zeitgeist moved on. Mainly because only new subscribers were affected, so it was easy to be apathetic.
Existing subscribers wouldn’t be affected for a year. That year is soon up on January 1, 2026. With the date fast approaching and NVIDIA updating its FAQ to confirm the cap will apply to almost everyone, it’s worth reminding everyone of this news again. Not because NVIDIA has changed its mind about the cap, but because PC gaming prices have ballooned astronomically throughout 2025, and the reduction in streaming hours stings more than ever.
Users are vocalizing their frustrations once more, and with greater vigour, as we move into a gaming landscape increasingly reliant on streaming services.
Quick reminder of what’s actually changing with NVIDIA Geforce Now in January 2026
Starting January 1, 2026, GeForce Now will enforce a 100-hour monthly playtime limit on nearly all paid subscribers. The tiers are currently priced at:
- Performance tier (formerly Priority): $9.99/month
- Ultimate tier: $19.99/month
Extra time outside of the 100 hours will be charged accordingly:
- Performance tier: $2.99 for 15 hours
- Ultimate tier: $5.99 for 15 hours
If you don’t use your 100 hours for the month, you can carry over 15 hours of unused hours into your next month’s allowance. The free tier is still capped at 1-hour sessions.:
There is one major exception to all of the above info which applies only to Founder Members. Founders who subscribed before March 17, 2021 remain exempt from the limit as long as they never cancel.
For everyone else? The clock starts ticking.NVIDIA has been clear that the cap has been implemented so prices can “remain the same for the foreseeable future.”
This does land a little worse now than it did in 2024
Nvidia GeForce Now’s Time Limit Will Stop Gamers After 100 Hours Each Month from r/Games
When NVIDIA first floated the cap back in 2024, cloud gaming was still widely seen as a supplementary service — something we used alongside our localised gaming setups.
At least for me, I use Geforce Now primarily on the Steam Deck for games that the handheld struggles with or can’t play at all. NVIDIA GeForce Now is a fantastic convenience for occasional play, of which the majority of the user base would never hit the 100-hour limit anyway.
That assumption no longer holds given the current climate. Over the last year, more players have been pushed toward streaming not because they want to be there, but because traditional PC upgrades are becoming brutally expensive.
I was browsing the reaction to the impending limit over on Reddit and while I was surprised at many comments responding as if this were new information, the renewed vitriol over it does make some sense given the recent ballooning costs of RAM. The disdain isn’t really directed at GeForce Now itself, rather the reasons why people are using it more.
Much of the pressure on the cost of upgrading our gaming PCs is now attributed to AI workloads competing for the same memory supply chains. GPUs are still expensive. CPUs aren’t cheap, but even “mid-range” builds are becoming increasingly unachievable.
For many players, cloud gaming isn’t just a supplementary service anymore. If they are unable to upgrade, they will become increasingly dependent on these services to run the latest games. So any nickel and diming feels so much harsher in 2026 than it did on paper in 2024.
“What am I paying for exactly?”
Even users who admit they may never hit 100 hours bristle at the idea that their access is being rationed. NVIDIA insists only around 6% of users will be affected, which begs the question, why implement the limit at all in that case? And given the change in PC component prices, won’t that 6% increase drastically in the years to come? Is NVIDIA simply putting in this limit now, ahead of what’s to come?
There is, of course, the concern that once a major player successfully normalizes paid access + time caps + micro-top-ups, others will follow. Not because users like it, but because they tolerate it. Could Xbox Cloud Gaming implement similar limits in the future? Given that they have recently rolled out Xbox Cloud Gaming to lower tiers (at the cost of higher Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions), it’s not out of the realm of possibility that this could go well for Nvidia.
As local hardware becomes harder to afford and streaming becomes more attractive or unavoidable, caps like this will eventually affect more users. Come January, the 100-hour timer starts for almost everyone. Whether that feels fair may depend less on how much you play, and more on how few alternatives you feel you have.
Let us know in the comments whether you think NVIDIA’s approach is reasonable, short-sighted, or a sign of where the entire industry is heading.
Are PC hardware prices pushing you toward cloud services, consoles, or sticking with what you already have?
👉Share your thoughts in the comments below. Your perspective helps shape the discussion around where gaming goes next.
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